I. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns the weaving of any pile fabric, but is particularly aimed at the weaving of a Wilton carpet.
II. Related Art
Briefly, in known looms of the class described, fabric is generally woven by raising and lowering a number of parallel threads which are known as "binding warps" relative to one another utilizing carrier frames known as "healds". A thread which forms the weft is passed across the warps in timed relation with the raising and lowering action to produce a woven backing or "base fabric". The pile portion is formed by raising and lowering pile forming warps in coordination with the weaving using additional healds which cooperate with the healds for the binding warps. The loops of pile are formed about oscillating pile wires or lances in a manner in which the pile forming warps are raised by healds working in coordination with the other healds for the binding warps and caused to pass to a selected side of the associated pile lances and are thereafter lowered by the healds and caused to pass to the other side of the pile lances thereby forming loops over the lances. After loop formation, the base fabric and the loops are pushed by a beater known as a "sley" along the pile lances against the already woven fabric to retain the pile yarn securely in the base fabric. This operation is known as "beating-up". Thereafter, the woven fabric is pushed further along the pile lances and the loops may be left or optionally cut open.
One such loom is illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,450,167 in which the lances or pile wires are held stationary between adjacent spaced dent fingers while corresponding healds raise and lower the pile-forming warp to form loops about them. The pile forming warp threads must push past the pile wires along the dent fingers and displace them laterally as they are raised and lowered thereby running the added risk of a malfunction or thread breakage. Whereas such devices have been generally successful, it remains that improvements are needed in the coordination between dent fingers and the pile-forming wires or lances to more positively locate the lances with respect to the dents to that the pile-forming warp is more easily and positively guided around the desired side of the lance when being raised and lowered by the corresponding heald.